Snow Angels
by CorduroyKoala
Summary: On a cold winter afternoon, two teens take a walk, enjoying some of the things the season has to offer. One-shot featuring an OC from a story I plan on releasing in the future.


Rian stood, hands in his pockets, reveling in the isolation of the Atlesian winter. The crisp air was still, the occasional snowflake tracking its path through the air before coming to rest among those that came before. The trees around him groaned under the weight of the snow, and somewhere off in the distance, a branch gave way under its burden. Closing his eyes, Rian extended his arms to the sides and, with a smile, let himself fall backward into the cushion of snow. Off to his left there was gasp as his companion rushed over to him. Standing over him, her blue eyes looked at him with worry. "All you all right?" She almost sounded annoyed. Rian let out a small chuckle.

"I'm fine Weiss. Just dandy." With a grin, he began fanning his arms and legs, earning himself a confused look from the white-haired girl.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"I'm making a snow angel," Rian explained. Apparently his words failed to do the job as the bewildered expression held. "Have you never?"

"My father didn't like us playing outside in the winter. He was afraid we would get sick."

"And he let you become a huntress?"

"Sometimes you have to make your own decisions."

"Fair enough," Rian said, sitting up. As he did, an idea formed in his head. It wasn't the wisest idea, but even if it went poorly, it would probably be worth it. "You should give it a try," he suggested. "Making a snow angel, I mean."

Weiss was not having it. "I'm not exactly dressed to be lying in the snow," she stated, crossing her arms.

"Well you're the one who decided that light pants and a jacket would be suitable for the middle of winter!" Rian stood up. "At least you had the sense to wear boots instead of high heels."

"Well excuse me, but you're the one who said we were just going for a walk!" Weiss countered, forgetting that he'd actually said that _he_ was going for a walk, and that she had invited herself.

Rian however, simply chose to ignore it. "Touché," he admitted, stepping next to Weiss. "Still…" He was a good foot taller than the heiress, so it wasn't too difficult for him to swiftly scoop her into his arms. Ignoring the protests from the girl, he stepped into a patch of untouched snow before unceremoniously tossing her into it. The snow was quite a bit deeper than he had expected though, and Weiss disappeared beneath it. When she finally managed to dig herself out, Rian couldn't help but laugh at the look of pure anger on her snow-covered face before turning to run. His efforts were cut short, however, when his foot got caught in a glyph, causing him to fall flat on his face. This time, it was the heiress's turn to laugh. "I deserved that," Rian grunted as he pushed himself up with a smile.

The two teenagers resumed walking, side by side, enjoying the atmosphere and each other's company in relative silence. At some point, Rian noticed a pond that had frozen over. "What are you doing?" Weiss asked as he broke off to inspect it. Holding up a finger to her, Rian carefully tested the ice, easing his weight onto his right foot. Satisfied, he walked away from the pond before turning around and breaking into a sprint. Reaching the edge of the ice, he threw himself forward, sliding across the surface on his stomach. "Why you insufferable…" Weiss stomped up to the edge of the pond where she stood, crossing her arms. "I honestly don't understand how you can act like a child sometimes."

Rian laughed. "That's only because you've never tried before!" A flash of emotion crossed over Weiss's face. "Okay, poor choice of words," he said to himself, realizing what memories he must have brought up. Standing up, Rian gestured with his arm for her to join him.

Her response was as cold as the air. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!" Rian had slowly plodded his way up to her. "Don't even -" Weiss started as he grabbed her arms.

The black haired boy looked her in the eyes. "Come on. What are you afraid of?" He didn't give the white-haired girl a chance to respond as he pulled her onto the pond with him. The ice creaked beneath their combined weight, but it held. Rian mentally breathed a sigh of relief. If she had fallen, that would have been awkward. As it was, Weiss was struggling to keep her balance as they moved to the center of the pond. "Lift your feet straight up and step flat," he advised her. "You're less likely to slip."

For as irritated as she had seemed when he pulled her onto the ice, Weiss seemed remarkably level headed. "You'd think I'd never seen ice before," she commented, losing her footing.

Rian caught her, barely keeping his own balance. "Well some of us _actually_ grew up in the snow."

"Quiet you." The heiress gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. Her action did not have the intended effect, however, as Rian let go of her arms and slid away. "Well now what?"

The boy shrugged. "Don't fall?" With that, he took off across the ice, moving with a practiced ease. Not one to be shown up, Weiss did her best to follow him, though her movements weren't quite as smooth. Rian couldn't help himself. "You know, you're rather uncoordinated for a girl who can literally glide across solid ground!"

The girl shot icy daggers at him with her eyes. "I swear, Rian, when I get over to you…" Rian smiled. He knew her well enough to know that it was an empty threat. Moving back to the center of the pond, the boy simply raised his arms up in a challenge. That seemed to set the fencer off as the two were suddenly connected by a string of glyphs. Rian's face fell slightly as he realized that the threat wasn't as empty as it seemed. He got his confirmation as a white and blue blur flew towards him, slamming him onto his back and sending the two of them sliding across the ice.

His aura absorbed most of the impact, but that didn't stop a dull ache from forming where his head hit the ice. Catching his breath, he stared up at the sky for several seconds before realizing that Weiss was laying on the ice just 'above' his head. The two lay there amid the lazily falling snow, not saying anything. The silence was broken as Rian failed to suppress a laugh, prompting Weiss to join him. The sound of their mixed laughter filled the air, echoing off the barren trees before vanishing into the blanket of snow that covered the land.

"It's starting to get dark," Rian commented after the laughter had subsided.

Weiss caught his meaning. "We should probably head back."

Pushing himself off the ice, Rian offered a hand to the girl in the white jacket. Taking it, she pulled herself up and the two began following their tracks back.

As they passed the place where Rian had made a snow angel, Weiss stopped. Rian looked back at her, curious, before she promptly extended her arms and fell backward into the snow. Smiling, he watched as she pushed the snow aside with her arms and legs. Taking a position next to the heiress, he leaned back, allowing the snow to break his momentum. Once again looking into the sky, Rian didn't move, simply allowing his frozen cushion to sap the heat from his body. The snow had stopped falling, and the clouds had cleared. The sky had darkened considerably in the short time they had been out, and several stars were already making their presence known.

"I don't get it." Weiss had stopped moving her limbs.

"Don't get what?" Rian asked, his breath misting above his head.

"What's so great about snow angels?"

The boy in the red jacket thought for a few moments. "I suppose it's not so much about making them as it the simplicity of them. For me at least, it's the most relaxing thing you can do in the snow." As he spoke, he began to move his arms, and his legs followed suit. "You just lay back, forget the cold and let the snow hold you."

Weiss paused to let his words sink in. "You and I have very different views of the world," she finally said, but she began to move her arms again. As the two lay in the snow, their gloved hands happened to brush against each other. Rian pulled his hand away at the contact, perhaps a bit too quickly, and sensed that Weiss had had a similar reaction. Thankful that the cold probably hid the flush that had come upon his face, he stood up. The heiress followed suit.

Rian had one last thing to say as he looked down at the imprints they had made. "That's the other thing about snow angels: they're rather beautiful." With that, the pair resumed their trek home, leaving behind only imprints in an otherwise untouched winter evening.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello there! If you're reading this, then I want to thank you for reading through my story (assuming you didn't just skip over the story to read this not for some reason). While this isn't the first piece I've written, it is the first one I've published, so feedback would be appreciated. I do have a larger project that I'm working on featuring the OC from this story, but I wanted to see how people would react to my style of writing, so I wrote this essentially as a test piece. Again, feedback would be lovely and I hope you enjoyed my work.<strong>


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